Enjoying the company of youth

In January, I had a couple of weeks where I had some great college students over to eat. The thing about college students is that they are much like high school students but more verbal. You ask a question and you actually get coherent content and thoughtful responses. I made a disgusting soup that somehow the first group of wonderful students choked down. The second group got a better meal that I wish I could remember. Ah well. Both groups allowed me to roast marshmallows around a fire, and we made smores too. These college girls are smart, not just looking for a husband, and they just are fun to be around.

In February, I had one of these same college girls and a couple of new ones over to my house to make cupcakes. Plus our friend Ragan came for the day to join in the fun! What a treat. I have missed that gal. Our cupcakes came in second place and they were mocha chocolate flavored with a coffee icing. They had beautiful candy decorations made by these same students. And we had fun talking about topics like majoring in English, majoring in engineering, what types of hearts work best when freehanding candy decorations, and learning about common friends. Add on to that a soup for lunch and cupcakes for dessert, what could be better?

Also, a couple of weeks ago, K invited three high school girls to spend the night for "Galentine's" day. They watched "Sleepover" and spent the night. I made a yummy shrimp pasta for them and for my boyfriend. The next morning I had bacon biscuits at the ready. These girls talked with me about Jesus. How God used technology to spread the gospel, what they were learning in their bible studies, what they loved about serving...Saturday morning was quite the blessing that day.

I think the thing we forget in our day to day is that life is really about relationships. It matters that you're organized (somewhat), it matters that you have a capacity to learn and read intellectually about politics/science/world news/fiction, it matters that you know how to capably do what you are supposed to do. But the reason we care most about personal relationships is because we have a relational God. We see it reflected in the Trinity; God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are three-in-one. The ultimate relationship, right? And this is the gospel: we love one another as He first loved us - but even better, He commanded us to love our neighbor like ourselves. We may be introverts, quiet, or anti-social, but we can't escape that we need others. And that is a reflection of Him.